Francis Slay, the mayor of St. Louis, wants to spend more money (another $2.2 billion) on a very expensive toy — adding 17 miles of track at taxpayer expense to the 46 already assembled in the MetroLink light-rail system. He calls it “a moral and economic imperative” for our city and region. That’s crazy talk. […]

Everyone knows the expression “stubborn as a mule.” More than a tired cliché, however, that is a doltish misperception, foisted upon us by the least adept of mule handlers. In the words of a real expert, it is “a classic example of man ascribing stupidity to the beast instead of to himself.” On this Labor […]

In “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” country music’s George Jones sings of a man who “can’t” — until the day he dies — “stop loving” an ex from long ago. The song (and its story of a long-broken relationship) came back to me in thinking of “Brexit” — the historic decision that British voters made […]

Donald Trump claims to be the one person who can avert the certainty of impending doom. “Nobody knows the system better than me,” he asserted in accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for president, “which is why I alone can fix it.” What does Donald Trump know that others don’t know? One thing is how to […]

Pass the smelling salts. The beautiful Europa is having a fainting fit. Not the first time this has happened. One day many, many years ago, Zeus, the greatest of the gods, saw her innocently picking flowers in a field. Consumed with lust, he transformed himself into a white bull and swept her off her feet. […]

It was a vintage if ill-advised display of firmness. A quarter of a century ago, Margaret Thatcher threw the British House of Commons into an uproar when she mocked the concept of a United States of Europe in no more than three words. Punctuating each one, she said: “No. No. No.” This wasn’t just verbal […]

Imagine going to the polls and voting on this proposition: Vote only once by putting a cross [X] in the box next to your choice. Should Missouri Remain part of the United States of America [ ] Leave the United States [ ] On June 23, voters in the United Kingdom will answer a similar […]

Not that the Obama administration could care any less. With strict new rules mandating overtime pay for aspiring professionals and others in mid-level managerial positions, the Obama administration is asking employers to hang out a sign that says, in effect: “We don’t want any go-getters around here. You are strictly forbidden to make any special […]

Not in Missouri anyway. In the just-ended 2016 session of the state legislature, Missouri lawmakers expended millions of words on dozens of issues – everything from guns to fantasy sports, from medical marijuana to opioid abuse, from limits on lobbyists’ gifts to lawmakers… to a six-month “cooling off” period for lawmakers before they become lobbyists, […]

That is the question…. Pick your poison. Do you want — the grand panjandrum of Trump University and other scams… or the shameless lady who added to her own sleazy fortune by accepting (or doing nothing to stop) donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation while she served as U.S. Secretary of State? […]